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1.

0 INTRODUCTION

Wireless technology, is by any measure the fastest growing segment of the communications
industry. Many new applications, including wireless sensor networks, automated highways
and factories, smart homes and appliances, and remote telemedicine are emerging from
research ideas to concrete systems. Due to advancements of wireless technology there is an
emergence of the internet of things which encompasses wearable technology. The popularity
of wearable technologies has increased day by day.

The terms “wearable technology “,” wearable devices”, and “wearables” all refer to
electronic technologies or computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and
accessories which can comfortably be worn by the body. (DARPA, Proceedings of the
wearables in 2005 Workshop, www.darps/MTO/Displays/Wear2005,(1996)). Wearable
computing facilities are a new form of interaction between the human and the computer
comprising a small body worn computer that is always accessible and ready to use. A
wearable computer used for such operations incorporated into the personal space of the user,
control by the user and is always on and accessible. (Tao, X, (2005), Wearable Electronics
and Phonics, p. 35).

The internet of things (IOT) refers to the use of intelligently connected devices and systems
to leverage data gathered by embedded sensors and actuators in machines and other physical
objects. (Tao, X, (2005) p.35)
The aim of this study is twofold. The first one is to discuss the evolution of wireless
technology and to explain how the internet of things and wearable technology make use of
wireless technology.

2.0 EVOLUTION OF WIRELESSS TECHNOLOGY

Tao, X, (2005), Wearable Electronics and Phonics, (X. Tao Ed.) (1st ed. Pp 1-244),
Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited contends that, the evolution of wireless
technology can be traced from the smoke signals of the pre-industrial age to the cellular,
satellite, and other wireless networks of today. (p.243). The evolution has been in the
strength, range of transmission, and speed of wireless communication technology.

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2.1 OVERVIEW FOUNDATION OF THE WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

Vern A, Dubendorf (2003) outlines the foundation or the history of wireless technology
beginning with the year 1896, in which Guglielmo Marconi develops the first wireless
telegraph system. 1927, First commercial radiotelephone service operated between Britain
and the US, 1950 TD-2, the first terrestrial microwave telecommunications system. Installed
to support 2400 telephone circuits. (p.28) He further elaborates that in the 1950s late in the
decade, the first paging access control equipment (PACE) paging systems established. 1960s
Early in the decade, the improved mobile telephone system (IMTS) developed with
simultaneous transmit and receive, more channels, and greater power. (p.28) as the years
passed more development followed, as this fact is noticed as Vern A. Dubendorf further
highlights that in 1962 the first communication satellite, Telstar, Launched into orbit. 1964
the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) established, and in
1965 launches the Early Bird Geostationary Satellite. 1968 Defense Advanced research
projects Agency -US (DARPA) selected BBN to develop the Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network (ARPANET), the father of modern internet. (p.29) he goes further
mentioning that in 1970s Packet switching emerges as an efficient means of data
communications with X25 standard emerging late in the decade, 1977 The Advanced Mobile
Phone System (AMPS), invented by Bell labs, first installed in the US with geographic
regions divided into “cells’ (i.e., cellular phone), 1983 January 1, TCP/IP selected as the
official protocol for the ARPANET. Leading to rapid growth, 1990 Motorola files application
for permission to launch 77 (revised down to 66) low earth orbit communication satellites,
known as the Iridium system (element 77 is iridium), 1993 internet protocol version 4 (IPV4)
established for reliable transmission over the internet in conjunction with the Transport
Control Protocol (TCP) 1994-5 FCC licenses the Personal Communication Service (PCS)
spectrum (1.7 to 2.3 GHz) for$7.7 billion 1998 Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba
announce they will join to develop Bluetooth for wireless data exchange between handheld
computers or cellular phones and stationary computers. (pp.28-29) Vern A. Dubendorf in
closing his overview adds that, in 1990s late in the decade, Virtual Private Networks
(VPNs)based on the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) and IPSEC security techniques
become available 2000 802.11(b)-based networks are in popular demand 2000-l Wired
equivalent (WEP) security is broken.

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The search for greater security for 802.11(X) based networks increases (pp29-30). With this
background and foundation. we can notice the evolution of wireless technology.

2.2 EVOULUTION THROUGH GENERATTIONS

From the foundation we have seen, we can further pin point a different outlook in the
evolution of wireless technology by means of generations.

A) 1G

V. K, Garg, (2002) explains that the 1st generation was announced in initial 1980’s and it has
a data rate up to 2.4kbps. (p.13) He further ads that “Major subscribers were Advanced
Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), Total Access
Communications Systems (TACS)” (p.13). It has a lot of disadvantages like below par
capacity, reckless handoff, inferior voice associations, and with no security. Since voice calls
were stored and played in radio towers due to which vulnerability of these calls from
unwanted eavesdropping by third party by increases. (V. K. Garg, 2003, P, 14)

B) 2G

With regards to the second generation, V. K, Garg claimed that, “the second generation of
cellular systems first deployed in the early 1990’s, were based on digital communications.
Digital technology is used in 2nd generation mobile telephones.” (p.13) He further added that
Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM) was the first 2 nd generation system,
chiefly used for voice communication and having a data rate up to 64kbps.(p.13) V. K, Garg
also held that, “It also provides services like Short Message Service (SMS) and e-mail and
Vital eminent technologies were GSM, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).(p.13) In
his conclusion, he affirms that “the shift from analog to digital was driven by its higher
capacity and the improved cost, speed, and power efficiency of digital hardware.”(p.14)

C) 2.5G

The 2.5G generally subscribes a 2nd generation cellular system merged with General Packet
Radio System (GPRS) and other amenities doesn’t commonly endow in 2G or in 1G
networks. V. K. Garg (2002), Wireless Network Evolution, P.17) V. K. Garg further adds that
“A 2.5G system generally uses 2G frameworks, but it applies packet switching along with
circuit switching. It can assist data rate up to 144kbps and the main 2.5G technologies were

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GPRS Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), and Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA). (P.17)

D) 3G

The 3rd generation was established in the late 200 and it imparts transmission rate up to
2Mbps. (V. K. Garg (2002), p.21) Third generation (3G) systems merge high speed mobile
access to service based on internet protocol (IP). (V. K. Garg (2002), p.21) 3G involves the
introduction and utilization of Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA),
Universal Mobile Technology Systems (UMTS) and Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) technologies, the evolving technologies like High Speed Uplink/Downlink Packet
Access (HSUPA/HSDPA) and Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) has made an intermediate
wireless generation between 3G and 4G named as 3.5 G with improved data rate of 5-30
Mbps. (V. K. Garg (2002), p.21)

E) 4G

4G is generally referred to as the descendant of the 3G and 2G standards. A 4G system


improves the prevailing communication networks by imparting a complete and reliable
solution based on IP(E.Perahia and R.Stacey, (2103) Next Generation Wireless,p.20).
E.Perahia and R.Stacey adds that, “Amenities like voice, data and multimedia to subscribers
on every time and everywhere basis and at quite higher data rates as related to earlier
generations”(p.20). Hence, Applications that are being made to use a 4G network are
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Digital Broadcasting (DVB), and video chat, High
Definition TV content and mobile TV. (E.Perahia and R.Stacey, (2103),p.20)

F) 5G

With an exponential increase in demand of the users, 4G will now be easily replaced with 5G
with an advanced access technology named Beam Division Multiple Access (BDMA) and
Non- and quasi-orthogonal or filter Bank multi carrier (FBMC) multiple access. (L. Wei. et
al, (2015) “Key Elements to Enable Millimeter Wave Communication for 5G Wireless
Systems” p. 136) L. Wei, further contends that “the concept behind BDMA technique is
explained by considering the case of the base station communicating with the mobile stations
in this communication, an orthogonal beam is allocated to each mobile station and BDMA
technique will divide that antenna beam according to locations of the mobile stations for

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giving multiple accesses to the mobile stations, which correspondingly increase the capacity
of the system.” (p.137) He further adds that, “an idea to shift toward 5G is based on current
drifts, it is commonly assumed that 5G cellular networks must address six challenges that are
not effectively addressed by 45 i.e. higher capacities, higher data rate, lower End to End
latency, massive device connectivity reduced cost and consistent quality of experience
provisioning. Recently introduc3d IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ad and 802.11af are very helpful
and act as building blocks in the road towards 5G.” (p.138)

3.0) HOW THE INERNET OF THINGS AND WEARABLE TECHNOLOGTY MAKE


USE OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

The wireless communication system for wearable devices is illustrated by establishing an


intra body network to transmit information to proximate devices. (Sang Don Kim, et al,
(2015) Secure communication System for Wearable Devices Wireless Intra Body
Communication, p.136). In general, there are five key features that should be introduced in
order to build an IoT platform. They are: Sensor or controllers, A gateway device, A
communication network software for processing data, and the end application service. (Sang
Don Kim, et al, (2015), p.136) For the internet of things and wearable technologies to interact
there is a mechanism which include comprehensive sensing, reliable transmission and
intelligent processing. (E.Perahia and R.Stacey,(2013), Next Generation Wireless LANs, p.88)
Therefore, IoT is divided into three layers. They are the sensing, network/transport and
application layer. (E.Perahia and R.Stacey,(2013), Next Generation Wireless LANs, p.88).
The Sensing Layer

E.Perahia and R.Stacey hold that “the sensing layer mainly solves the data collection problem
from devices”(p.88). Karen Rose et al (2015), divides this layer into two main parts. One is
the basic sensors, such as RFID tags and readers, various sensors, cameras, GPS, two-
dimensional code labels and readers and other basic identification and sensor components.
The other one is the sensor network. Both networks could be used to recognize the mark on
the item and collect information intelligently. (p.73) Therefore, this layer is the most basic
and is the core layer in IoT. Sensor nodes are tiny devices; they are self-organizing wireless
communications. They use wireless communication technology for data forwarding. Each
node has both data acquisition and data fusion forwarding functions. (Romeo
Kienzler.2017,p.31) adds that the basic building blocks of sensor nodes include a sensing
unit, processing unit, a communication unit and a power supply section. The processor

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module is the core of the sensor nodes. It is in charge of the entire node device control, task
allocation and scheduling data integration and transmission. The goal of the sensor node is to
collect all the data and transform the data into an electrical signal. In the end, we can send the
signal to the sink or the base node.

The Network Layer/Transport Layer

This is the layer in which all data sensing and data transmission in a certain range happens
(Romeo Kienzler.2017, p.31). He further points out that it builds on existing mobile
communications network and the internet. (p.31) Therefore, IoT will connect to the mobile
communication network and the internet by using different access equipment (p.32). adding
further, Romeo Kienzler holds that “the most involving things in this layer are Short-range
wireless communications, self-organizing network, simplify IPv6 agreement and Enhanced
Machine to machine (M2M) wireless access and core network standards and so on.” (p.33)

Sensors and other devices are connected to networks using various networking devices such
as hubs, gateways, routers, network bridges, and switches, depending on the application. Gil
Reiter affirms that the first step in the process of transferring data from one machine to
another via network is to uniquely identify each of the machines and suggest that, the IoT
requires a unique name for each of the “things” on the network. (Wireless connectivity for the
Internet of Things(PDF), p.36) Hence “there” is an involvement of network protocols:
network protocols refer to a set of rules by which the machines identify and authorize each
other. Communication protocols: once devices are connected to a network and identify each
other, communication protocols (a set of rules) provide a common language for devices to
communicate.” (Gil Reiter. (2014), p.37)

The Application Layer

The application layer is known as “The processing layer” the main function is to solve the
problem in the information processing and interface between man and machine. (Gil Reiter.
(2014), p.37).

This layer is the final function implement layer, it processes the data from the network layer
and then sends the data into all kinds of information system (Gil Reiter. (2014), p.37). In the
end, the data will be interacted with people through the certain device. The application layer
contains different platforms (such as M2M management platform), information processing
platform, information security platforms. (Gil Reiter. (2014), p.38). The platform

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accomplishes the function such as data management, calculation, storage, analysis and
service deliver for the industry and massive users (Gil Reiter. (2014), p.38). Gil Reiter attests
that “the core technology in this layer is automation and virtualization and the automation
technology can deal with the user request and organize the resources automatically”(p.39).
Moreover, the virtualization technology can improve the usage of the resource efficiently in
order to reduce cost.

4.0) CONCLUSION

We have established that due to the advancements of wireless technology, many facilities
have been made possible, such as the IoT and wearable technologies in particular. These have
evolved gradually in parallel with technological advancements such as electronic chips, GPS
systems, Wi-Fi systems, the internet, computers, and sensors. The major applications of the
wearable technologies are in the health industry, textile industry, and consumer electronics
industry. By and large, the role of the wireless technology is communicating data for efficient
utility and operability of the IoT and wearable technologies.

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5.0 REFERENCE

DARPA, Proceedings of the wearables in 2005 Workshop,


www.darps/MTO/Displays/Wear2005,(1996)

Tao, X, (2005), Wearable Electronics and Phonics, (X. Tao Ed.) (1st ed. Pp 1-244),
Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited.

ITU-T, Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative, https:/www.itu.int/en/TTU-T

Vern A, Duberndorf, (2003), Wireless Data Technologies, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd

V. K. Garg(2002), Wireless Network Evolution: 2G to 3G, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,
Prentice Hall, ,

L. Wei. R.Q. Hu,Y. Qian, and G.Wu,( 2015) “Key Elements to Enable Millimeter Wave
Communication for 5G Wireless Systems”, Vol.21 no.6. 136. Jan.

Sang Don Kim, Sam Muk Lee, and Seung Eun Lee.( 2015) Secure communication System for
Wearable Devices Wireless Intra Body Communication, ICCE,

E.Perahia and R.Stacey, (2103) Next Generation Wireless LANs:802.11n and 802.11,
Cambridge university press,

Romeo KienZler.(2017).Build a cognitive LoT app in just 7steps(PDF).IBM


Karen Rose, Scott Eldridge, Lymn Chapin,( 2015)”The Internet of Things:An Overview
Understanding the Issues and Challenges of a More Connected World”, The Internet
Society(ISOC).

Gil Reiter. (2014). Wireless connectivity for the Internet of Things(PDF), Texas Instruments.

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